If Kay Bailey Hutchison doesn’t approve of how her successor has been using his position in the Senate, she didn’t show it during an appearance on a popular TV program.

Appearing last night on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, the former Texas senator smiled politely, highlighting his accomplished schooling and said Sen. Ted Cruz was a “very bright person.”

Kay Bailey Hutchison (AP Photo)

“I think he’s very committed to his cause of trying to keep Americans free,” she answered.

Hutchison, a Republican from Dallas, talked to Stewart about her new book, “Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas.”

Stewart pointed out Hutchison’s diplomatic response and said her answer could have also described Lex Luthor, fictional supervillain and archenemy of Superman.

Cruz took Hutchison’s Senate seat following her retirement after almost 20 years in the Senate. He’s made a very stark mark that he’s not afraid to remain divided along party lines and even going against his party, while his predecessor, Hutchison, was known to exchange in bipartisan conversations.

Stewart also asked Hutchison about the uphill battle to garner bipartisan agreement in the Senate, specifically addressing the recent bill that was shot down that would have expanded background checks on gun purchasing. Hutchison did come out supporting the measure to expand background checks. But she pointed out the Senate’s decision to kill the bill was a bipartisan one.

“There was bipartisan support of the amendment that would kill the background checks,” she said. “That was not all Republicans either.”